Effect of web formation on properties of hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of two popular web-forming technologies, viz., the Rando air-laid technology and the traditional carding and cross-laying technology, on properties of the hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics made therewith. A mill-like fiber processing study was conducted in a commercial-grade pilot plant using a variety of short staple fibers and their blends. The fibers used in the study were greige cotton, bleached cotton, cotton derivatives, and cut-staple polyester. The hydroentangled fabrics produced with the two systems were mainly evaluated for their physical and mechanical properties, absorbency, absorbency capacity, and whiteness. The study has shown that, with the exception of greige cotton linters, the greige cotton lint, greige cotton gin motes, and even greige cotton comber noils, either alone or in blend with the other fibers mentioned, can be mechanically processed into hydroentangled nonwoven fabric structures without any insurmountable difficulties. The drop test and sink time followed each other pretty closely, as the drop test time increased so did the sink times. The "whiteness" of fabric, which is significantly more dependent on the fabric's constituent fiber content than on the fabric's surface-based light reflection, obviously varied considerably. However, the whiteness index within the same fiber types and their blends shows no trend of significant difference between the fabric produced with carded fiber web and the fabric produced with random Rando fiber web. Incidentally, the Rando sample of bleached cotton was not available. Since the nonwoven fabrics of this discussion generally are disposable, the optional use of ‘brighteners’ to improve whiteness of certain whiteness-deficient fabrics may be considered as long as the brighteners do not easily bleed from the fabrics.

Citation

Sawhney, P., Allen, H., Reynolds, M., Slopek, R., Condon, B., Hui, D. and Wojkowski, S. (2012), "Effect of web formation on properties of hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics", World Journal of Engineering, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 407-416. https://doi.org/10.1260/1708-5284.9.5.407